David Frear says he expects to close the Sirius-XM transaction by the end of the year.

Frear argues that the so-called “original rule” that prohibited XM and Sirius from merging when the original licenses were granted by the FCC, was of a different time, not relevant to the music/media market today. He says former FCC chairman Reed Hundt, who created the initial rule, agrees.

Check out more of Frear’s address to the UBS’s Global Media conference here…